Trampolines are used for a variety of athletic and recreational purposes. However, injuries have sometimes resulted when a person jumping on a trampoline lands near the boundary of the trampoline surface thereby striking the trampoline frame and/or falling from the trampoline to the ground. Other injuries have resulted from assembling and dissembling the trampoline and its component parts, such as pinched fingers and/or limbs when folding and/or unfolding the trampoline and/or its component parts. An article in the Mar. 3, 1998, New York Times reports that trampoline-related emergency room hospitalizations of children doubled between 1990 and 1995 (to nearly 60,000), and that the rate of injuries shows no sign of abating. Some in the medical community have called for a ban on the sale of home trampolines. While stopping short of a ban, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has called for safety improvements to home trampolines.
One approach to reducing such injuries has been to form a wall around the perimeter of a trampoline surface so that when a jumper lands close to the edge, the wall prevents the jumper from falling off. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,501,132, 5,399,132 and 6,261,207. However, these devices suffer from various drawbacks and, in some cases, introduce additional safety concerns.
Moreover, although foldable trampolines are known in the prior art, prior art foldable trampolines generally do not include safety features for protecting a user when assembling and dissembling the trampoline and its component parts resulting in the injuries as discussed previously. For example, during the process of folding a trampoline in tension, prior art foldable trampolines may cause the trampoline to unavoidably snap into a folded condition thereby causing bodily harm to one attempting to fold the trampoline.
Moreover, although trampolines generally include a frame pad about the periphery of the trampoline, prior art frame pads tend to concave inward relative to the outer and inner portions of the frame, i.e., form a “gutter”. Such frame pads generally are intended cover the springs and trampoline frame and help to protect the user from falling between the springs or impacting the frame. Over time and when subjected to the elements, the median portion of the frame may become compromised. When this occurs, water and debris may become trapped within this median portion, i.e., “gutter,” thereby compromising the integrity of the frame and/or shortening its lifetime. A compromised frame pad may lead to injuries as described previously.
Moreover, trampolines are generally supported by U-shaped supporting devices which pivotably move from a collapsed position to an expanded position. When in the expanded position, the trampoline is difficult to re-position due to the heavy weight of the trampoline net alone. Repositioning of prior art trampolines may lead to injuries as described previously.
Moreover, prior art trampolines generally employ detachable ladders to accommodate mounting and de-mounting onto and off of the trampoline, respectively. Because the detachable ladder is a separate component relative to the trampoline itself, it risks becoming separated from the trampoline which invariably defeats its purpose. For example, if a trampoline must be moved from one location to another location and a user forgets to bring the detachable ladder, then its purpose of facilitating safe mounting and de-mounting is thereby defeated.